James Ashton-Miller, Ph.D.

Students in Dr. Ashton-Miller’s Biomechanics Research Laboratory collaborate with a variety of clinicians. They employ experiments, computer simulations, and/or inventions to understand why selected unintentional injuries occur because they are associated with enormous socioeconomic costs.  For example, because 10-15% of women are injured during vaginal birth, they are working on ways to identify how, when, and why those injuries occur so they can be better prevented; this is because these injuries can lead to pelvic organ prolapse, a distressing condition that is a frequent cause of surgery later in life.  Dr. Ashton-Miller and his students and orthopedic colleagues are testing the hypothesis that anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears, a common sports injury, are a cumulative trauma disorder resulting from fatigue-related microdamage at the femoral enthesis. Insights will have implications for better prevention of these injuries. Along with colleagues in physical medicine and geriatrics, they are studying how physical and cognitive capacities, aging and disease affect human mobility and the risk for fall-related injuries.  He and his students work with several Fortune 100 companies on improved product design.

Research Areas:

Biomechanics, Organ and Whole Body Biomechanics, Skeletal Orthopaedics